Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal (1 February 1954 – 29 July 2010) was a Mexican suspected drug lord and a founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

. He worked alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. His stronghold was

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

Biography

In the 1980s, Coronel began his criminal career as the leader of the Juarez Cartel in the state of

Nayarit Nayarit, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...

. He worked at that time under the shadow of Amado Carrillo Fuentes "the Lord of The Skies" and Eduardo González Quitarte "El Flaco". After the death of Carrillo Fuentes, Coronel, Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno "El Azul" and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada broke away from the Juarez cartel and joined the Sinaloa cartel, which regained its status as Mexico's top cartel in 2001 after El Chapo Guzman's escape from prison in Puente Grande, Jalisco. At that time Coronel was associated with Luis Valencia Valencia, head of the cartel del Milenio and the Beltran Leyva brothers. Years later, when the Beltran Leyva brothers broke away from Guzman, Coronel stood firmly with the Sinaloa cartel. Coronel was responsible for moving multi-ton quantities of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

via fishing vessels from

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and on to the United States states of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

during the early 2000s. His influence and operations penetrated throughout the United States, Mexico, and several other European, Central American, and South American countries. In Mexico, he was known as the "King of Crystal" for his domination of crystal methamphetamine production and trafficking. Both the governments of the United States and Mexico had an outstanding arrest warrant for Coronel; in addition, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

was offering a reward of up to $5 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

for information leading to his capture.FBI – Reward for Coronel

Kingpin Act sanction

On 1 June 2005, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

sanctioned Coronel under the

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States intended to address Illegal drug trade, international narcotics traffic ...

(sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking along with seven other international criminals and one entity. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.

Death

Coronel was killed on 29 July 2010 in Zapopan,

, during a shootout with the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

. During the raid, Coronel killed a soldier and wounded another. Sometime during the shootout, Coronel was fatally shot in the head, which killed him instantly. A statement from the federal Attorney General's Office says soldiers found jewelry, luxury watches, guns, two hand grenades, three vehicles, and US$7 million in cash in the house where Coronel was killed.

Personal life

On 3 April 2010, alleged gunmen of Los Zetas abducted and killed Coronel's son, Alejandro Coronel (aged 16), in Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit. Coronel sought vengeance and responded three days later by sending over 100 of his henchmen to kidnap and kill 14 people. A few days after Coronel was killed on 29 July 2010, his nephew Mario Carrasco Coronel ("El Gallo") was killed by the special forces of the Mexican Army in

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. Mario reportedly aided his uncle Ignacio directly in the cartel activities and was his alleged successor. His niece, Emma Coronel, is married to Joaquín ''El Chapo'' Guzmán, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. Emma is the third or fourth wife of Guzmán, who at one time was a partner of Coronel. In January 2010, several members of the Coronel clan were arrested: Ernesto Coronel Peña, Juan Jaime Coronel, Juan Ernesto Coronel Herrera, and Gael Carbel Aldana. His cousin José Ángel Coronel Carrasco ("El Changel") was arrested by Mexican soldiers in Culiacán on 20 January 2013. He was the successor of Coronel Villarreal and top leader of La Corona Cartel, a Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated gang founded between late 2012 and early 2013. His nephew and regional cartel leader in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

, Humberto Rodríguez Coronel ("El Canelo"), was arrested by the Navy on 24 March 2013. His nephew Martín Beltrán Coronel (alias "El Águila") was released from prison on 24 September 2014.

References

External links

Ex-rivals' merge to 'megacartel' intensifies brutality in Mexico
(17 June 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Coronel Villarreal, Ignacio 1954 births 2010 deaths

Ignacio Ignacio is a male Spanish language, Spanish name originating in the Latin name "Ignatius" from ''ignis'' "fire". This was the name of several saints, including the Ignatius of Antioch, third bishop of Antioch (who was thrown to wild beasts by emp ...